Unhooked
by Teobi
Summary: TAG2015. Virgil is no longer in control of TB2 and is plummeting towards certain death. His brothers are helpless to save him, or are they? This is my interpretation of that scene in Skyhook. Some canon dialogue included. *Spoilers for Skyhook*


_"CIRRUS has just sent the energy of one hundred lightning bolts into Thunderbird Two's systems!"_

Brains's words froze the blood in Scott's veins. The Field Commander in Thunderbird One leaned forward in his seat, willing his craft to go even faster than it already was.

 _Hold on, Virgil, hold on. You're not a quitter..._

Never did Scott feel more grimly afraid than when one of his brothers was in trouble. It was never any use telling himself it was an 'occupational hazard'. These guys were his flesh and blood, and together they were all the flesh and blood of their lost father and deceased mother. He'd have to be a complete psychopath not to panic on some inner level even though he did his best not to show it.

Gripping the controls of his 'bird tightly, Scott pushed her to maximum speed and then a little bit more for good measure, although he had no idea how he was going to bring Thunderbird Two out of her apparent freefall even if he got there in time.

oOo

It's said that your whole life flashes before your eyes when you die- but the only thing flashing before Virgil's eyes were raging clouds spinning past the cockpit windows as Thunderbird Two plummeted earthward through the centre of the storm. Fighting against the g forces as the heavy craft pinwheeled towards the ground, Virgil kept on flicking switches and pushing buttons, but TB2 was dead as a dodo and soon he would be, too. Resisting the angry urge to put one heavy boot through the lifeless console, Virgil fought down a wave of nausea as he realised that his beautiful crippled 'bird was about to become his tomb.

 _Oh well, at least we'll be together..._

Virgil fought against unconsciousness, even though he knew he would prefer to be out cold when the end came. Then, out of nowhere came his little brother's voice, ringing like a klaxon in his ears as though the blond haired aquanaut were right back in the cabin with him.

"Don't worry- I'll keep an _eye_ on it. You know, because hurricanes have an _eye_ at the centre?"

Dear God. Was Gordon's awful pun going to be the last thing on his mind before the planet smashed him to smithereens? But then maybe that wasn't a bad thing. Gordon was his wingman, his co-pilot, his right hand man, his cohort, his partner in crime and even sometimes his nemesis. It seemed only fitting that the spirit of the tousle headed rogue accompany him through that eye to his final resting place-

\- make that _places_ , since there wasn't going to be much left of him _or_ TB2 once they hit ground zero.

For the first time in years, Virgil realised that he found Gordon's 'voice' soothing. He bit back a laugh when he thought of all the arguments the two of them had ever had. Silly things not worth the effort they took. Clashes of ego, most of them. Trouble was, they were both smart men, but in different ways. They had had to learn to trust each other over the years. Virgil had always been methodical, whereas Gordon pulled ideas out of the air and wanted to try them all on for size. Kind of like Scott, but even more different than that. Gordon was almost synaesthetic in the way he solved problems. it was less of a learned skill and more of a natural instinct that Gordon had and the rest of them didn't, even Alan, the youngest astronaut in living history.

 _Ah, my squid sense tingling, water loving little brother. I'd give anything to see his face right now,_ thought Virgil as TB2 screamed closer and closer to the ground, tumbling through the eye of the storm like a stone. His face, his voice, his stupid puns. _Whatever I've ever said to you Gordon, I take it all back. I wish you were here with me right now- except that would mean that you were going to die too... so, ah... maybe not_.

 _How d'ya like that- my last thoughts aren't going to be anything witty or original. Just stupid and pathetic. And now I'm going to die. God, if there is a you and you're up there, please, I beg you- make it quick._

And then suddenly, Gordon was back. Just like that-

he was back.

He appeared out of nowhere, the divine intervention that Virgil had been praying for. He flew up into the open pod, latched onto the magnetic docking device and and plugged the gyrocopter's systems directly into Thunderbird Two. Virgil could only watch in wide eyed amazement as the big green 'bird purred back to life around him, engines, lights and sounds returning as if nothing had ever happened.

 _Holy crap. How did he do that? I mean, I know how he did, but..._

How _did he?_

"Virgil! I've slaved your console to mine! I now have control of Thunderbird Two!"

Gordon's voice rang out in Virgil's ears and this time it was real- real and surprisingly authoritative. Gordon _was_ there with him and thanks to his quick thinking and crazy ideas, they were _not_ going to die. Virgil let go of the controls he'd been clutching and raised his hands in the air, surrendering his 'bird to his brother. For a split second he wondered if he had actually crashed and he was now being transported up to heaven. He felt foolish about it, but what other explanation could there be? When his own voice came, he was surprised to hear how calm he sounded.

"Thanks, Gordon- now let's get back up to CIRRUS."

But then another voice rang out, a voice which snapped him back to reality and one that he instinctively knew not to argue with. It was Scott, and in spite of the drama that had just unfolded, the Field Commander seemed in no mood for greetings or small talk.

"Negative, Virgil- you're just a flight hazard now. I've got it from here." Scott's voice was curt, his piercing blue eyes already looking ahead to the task that lay in front of him, almost ignoring Virgil completely. Virgil sighed inwardly but there was nothing he could do. He wasn't even flying his own 'bird anymore- that function was now in the hands of his squid sensing, water loving little brother. Never had he felt more happy to be alive, yet never had he felt more helpless and redundant. He tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice as he answered his eldest brother's command.

"F.A.B. Thunderbird Two breaking off. Take it away, Gordon."

"F.A.B."

Virgil was now just a passenger in his own 'bird. Out of the corner of his right eye he saw the flash of silver as Thunderbird One streaked past, but was in no real mood to acknowledge it, although of course he hoped that Scott would have better luck in trying to stabilise CIRRUS than he had. The good thing was that TB2 had absorbed most of the static discharge, which meant Scott was in less danger of losing his life than Virgil had been, and that was a huge relief. The bad thing was that none of them knew what other safety features Langstrom Fischler had neglected to install due to his almost psychotic obsession with cutting corners. The only way to find out was the hard way.

Delayed shock made Virgil slump heavily in his seat as TB2 made her way back to Tracy Island with Gordon at the helm. He didn't fight the weight of his limbs or try to soldier on through the nagging pain at his temples. He knew he'd only narrowly escaped death this time. He knew he had Gordon to thank, for without the aquanaut he would now be plastered all over the ground like a bug on a windshield. He wasn't a man prone to bouts of weakness, but since he wasn't even piloting his own 'bird anymore, there was nothing for him to do than sit there and endure the ride, trusting his little brother to take them home safely.

oOo

 _He's okay. Thank God he's okay. I don't know what I would have done if we'd lost him._

Scott kept his gaze ahead, resolutely focused on his task. He didn't even take notice of Thunderbird Two falling below him as she began the journey home. There was no point slowing down now, if anything he needed to go even faster as CIRRUS soared towards the stratosphere.

 _Although if there weren't two other wholly innocent crew members aboard, I'd have a good mind to let Fischler suffer his fate, endangering both Virgil AND Gordon like that!_

The icy blood that had been coursing through Scott's veins now bubbled white hot. There would be plenty of time for anger and recriminations later, plenty of time to work out how he was going to avoid his brothers discovering how close he had come to another internal anxiety attack because he couldn't keep them safe when it counted. But right now he had to stay calm, stay professional, stay focused.

He breathed deeply, put all thoughts of Virgil and Gordon aside, and snapped back into Field Commander mode- a role he had been playing all his life, one that let him deal with people like Langstrom Fischler every day.

"CIRRUS. I'm on approach to you now."

He would deal with the rest of it later.


End file.
